NEON PALM MALL (Vaporwave Mix + Video)

Props to all the dorky dads carrying camcorders at the mall, and their surely mortified daughters and sons.

I can already smell the crisp chlorine coming from the fountain.

the 80s and early 90s feels like its more Futuristic than the times we live in today

The mall was the physical embodiment of the internet. They just can’t exist like this simultaneously

- So what kind of music do you like? - Mall music, mostly the mattresses section.

It's like being haunted by the ghost of late 20th century optimism.

it hurts even more when you actually see the mall you grew up in and remember a time that you'll never get back.

"We didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun." - Winnie the Pooh

Some architects should design a mall with a vapor wave aesthetic in mind with neon lights, fountains, palm trees, and constant vapor wave shopping music playing.

Whoever put this together... I'm 50 years old, and watching this brought tears to my eyes... I remember these days so well, and this was incredible to watch! There hasn't been found any vintage footage from our local mall (now torn down) but this is pretty darn close! Many of the same shops... good days that I will always miss.

The nostalgia physically hurts me…I was little at that time but everything was so comfy, warm and felt like a world in itself. Slower, more mindful, happier. More human.

i dont think we knew how much of a treasure it was growing up in the 90s

Before 2020 I was just nostalgic for the mall aesthetic, now I’m nostalgic for seeing any mall at all with actual people in it

People were truly more optimistic in the 90s and especially before 9/11. Most of us believed society would continue to get better and better. When computers, cell phones, and the internet became popular people dreamed of the incredible things we'd see in our lives. Now we use those same devices to reminisce about a time we were all-to-happy to leave behind.

I saw this on my recommended page and instantly recognized the thumbnail. Unless it was common for food courts to look identical in the '70s, I'm confident the thumbnail is a picture of the Eatery from a demolished mall in Rockville, Maryland called White Flint Mall. It was literally my favorite place growing up. My mom worked in the mall's management office as a secretary. I remember eating in this food court, playing around in Dave & Busters, shopping at H&M, getting cookies from Mrs. Fields, playing on my Nintendo DS in the lobby, and even going to the dentist here. My mom would bring cheesecake home from the Cheesecake Factory for our birthdays and during the holidays. When the mall closed, my mom lost her job and things were never the same. This mall holds such a special place in my heart, and just looking at old pictures of it helps me remember when life felt more normal.

If its to be noticed, this video is telling a story. Its not just another video coupled with good Vapor Wave. From the beginning of the video, that shows us malls when they were in their prime. With people having a good time and shops everywhere coupled with rather joyful, upbeat sounding music. Then, slowly transitioning to slower, more somber sounding music with progressively less people. Representing of the magic that seems to have faded from the mall scene, leaving behind memories of a better time. The sad, nostalgic feeling summed up in the lyrics of the last song "and we let it get away". Who would've thought we would all miss malls as much as we do today.

I'll be honest. I thought I was the only person in the world who was passionate for the retro mall atmosphere. I'm glad there's footage for these things, and even songs dedicated to the memory. I may have just been born in '95, but i feel like a some of the 90's made its way into the 2000's, and things like this really make me miss the whimsical, colorful way my mall used to look. I wonder what these malls look like today...

Born in '95. I remember having a slice of cake with Papa in a mall called Plaza Singapura in Singapore. I was 3, so that was in '98. That memory stuck with me because I remember crying so badly because that slice of cake fell. And Papa got me another slice. What hurts me even more is knowing that he was jobless at that time. And I'm crying as I am typing this. I love my Papa.

I almost screamed when I saw the footage starting at 49:55. That’s my childhood mall. Century III Mall, in a town just outside of Pittsburgh. The last time I was there was probably 2005. The signs of it closing were just barely showing; it’s a pretty big mall and there were maybe 2 or 3 vacant storefronts. I spent a solid quarter of my childhood at that mall. Waiting with my dad by the fountain for my mom get off of work; the bus stopped there on its route, so we would pick her up, maybe have dinner there at the food court if I was lucky. Italian Village Pizza and Orange Juilus. Getting my hair done at Regis. Begging my mother to let me go into Hot Topic (this was the late 90’s early 00’s Hot Topic, where everything came in one color, black). Playing a Sega Dreamcast demo at the game store. I vividly recall that corner shown at 51:02. At the bottom of those steps there was a tax service, an As Seen on TV store, and a few tables, along with a well-loved DDR machine. It’s crazy, it’s been almost 20 years, but when I see these clips, I can smell the Food Court, catch the scent of whatever they treated the fountain water with as it drifted through the place, feel the plastic leaves. I remember seeing so many sunsets while walking to the car with my parents, watching the complex fade into the distance during the short ride home. It’s weird. That place I spent so much time in is just empty and abandoned. It’s a lot of land, the building is huge and imposing, but it’s gone. It’s just like the lyric in “Sprawl II” by Arcade Fire: “Living in the Sprawl, dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains, and there’s no end in sight.”

Hi, Spliff Radio. I'm a philosopher and cultural critic currently writing a book on consumerism and mall culture. I just wanted to let you know that this video is truly, truly special to me. I have watched/listened to it countless times while writing my book. It has been a constant source of inspiration to me the last couple of years. There are other vaporwave/mall soft playlists that I also cherish, but what makes your video my absolute favorite, my #1, is all of the footage you compiled for it. The way you edited all of it together and placed it to the music involved true artistry. In my opinion, this is the greatest video/playlist of its kind. In fact, I'm planning on using it as my key example of mall soft in my book. Thanks so much for this brilliant work of art! If I had it my way, this video would be played on an eternal loop on my gravestone.